Grand River Valley : Vintage 2010
I have been tasting the wines from 2010 (they are still in barrels) and they are wonderful.

Ashtabula, Ohio really saw ideal weather conditions for our vineyards. We experienced some periods of very dry weather over the summer and near record heat. Harvest started way earlier than normal. We finished with over 3000  growing degree days, one of the warmest on record. Growing degrees (GDs) is defined as the number of temperature degrees above a certain threshold base temperature, which varies among crop species. The base temperature is that temperature below which plant growth is zero. GDs are calculated each day as maximum temperature plus the minimum temperature divided by 2 (or the mean temperature), minus the base temperature. GDUs are accumulated by adding each day’s GDs contribution as the season progresses.

California makes more wine than all other U.S. states combined, all that production reflects a big demand for California wine. Two out of every three times that someone in the U.S. grabs a bottle of wine to take home, points to a wine name on a restaurant wine list, or clicks on the computer screen to buy wine, that wine comes from California.

In 2010, California endured record-breaking low temperatures throughout the spring, which led to a late budbreak. Summer wasn’t much better. It was the second coldest July in 50 years in Napa, Sonoma and other regions. Rainfall in May was twice the historic average in Northern California. Some vineyards were going through bloom when the rains hit, stunting the size of the crop and creating loose and uneven clusters that matured unevenly.

I hope that the 2010 vintage will encourage people to reach for a bottle of Grand River Valley wines.